For the first time this year, the Exeter Classic – a “criterium” style bike race – offered equal prize money in their pro women's race as their pro men’s race. In September, the Portsmouth Criterium will also offer an equal purse to women for the first time.

Top female bike racers say regional race directors in New England and Northern California are pushing national and international governing bodies toward equality for women as they make room for women’s races and attract sponsors for equal prize money.

Drivers and cyclists aren’t always happy to share the road. After two cyclists died in a fatal car accident on Saturday morning in Hampton, tensions between those on two wheels and four -- have heated up.

When Krystle Crossman, who lives in Manchester, first saw that two cyclists had died after being struck by a car in Hampton, her instinct was to blame them. She says "because when there are in large groups like that because of roadraces and such, they tend to go four or five abreast, instead of one or two."

As more New Hampshire communities adopt bike-friendly policies, more Granite Staters are taking to two wheels instead of four, encouraged by programs such as "Complete Streets" and new rail trails. But along with expansion has come some tension -- with cars and pedestrians -- as well as debates over how scarce resources will be spent.

Four years ago, Evelyn Stevens was working as a Wall Street investment banker and just starting to race bicycles. But she rose through the cycling ranks quickly, and next month she will represent the United States at the Olympic Games in London.

On a recent muggy morning in busy Central Park, Stevens easily weaves her bicycle through many obstacles.

"There's the horse carriages, there's the bike buggies, there's the Rollerbladers," she says, "the people on their bikes training, the five gajillion joggers, the hot dog stands, the dogs — there's a lot going in."

Selectmen in the Seacoast town of Rye have voted to require cyclists to ride single file on all roads in the town. The ordinance passed despite opposition from the community, and it also requires pedestrians to walk single file on Rye roads.

Similar rules are in place in Newington and Newcastle. Supporters of single file ordinances say that the narrow, winding roads on the seacoast don’t have space for two cyclists abreast.

The rule became a flashpoint after Rye’s chief of police put up a traffic sign that read, “Roads are for riding not chatting. Ride single file.”

Federal prosecutors say they have dropped its doping case against seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. For two years, prosecutors looked into allegations that Armstrong and his United States Postal squad used performance-enhancing drugs.